T.J. Oshie stepped to the microphone and apologized for his voice.It was hoarse from days and nights of celebrating the Washington Capitals‘ Stanley Cup triumph and fans now had gathered on the National Mall after the championship parade. Oshie had enough left to start a chant among the tens of thousands of fans: “Back-to-back! Back-to-back!”With a full voice and the shortest summer of his career behind him Mario Lemieux Jersey , Oshie hasn’t changed his tune that the Capitals can repeat.“If we continue with our style of play and everyone chips in like we did, I think we have a really good chance,” Oshie said. “I know the odds are against us, we had a short summer, everyone else has a couple more months of training on them. But we still have all the pieces.”Even though the Pittsburgh Penguins went back-to-back in 2016 and 2017, the odds are against Washington repeating despite bringing back an almost identical roster from last year’s run. What the Capitals showed teams gunning for the Cup in 2019 is how a championship window is never closed as long you make the playoffs. The Penguins , Boston and Tampa Bay in the Eastern Conference, and the San Jose Sharks and St. Louis Blues in the West, take note: Previous postseason success and failure is little indication of what’ll happen next.“They don’t give up after a lot of tough years,” Blues winger Vladimir Tarasenko said of the Caps. “They work on their game, play hard and finally reach their goal. This is really good example for us. I think that’s what we need to try to do.”The race to the playoffs begins with the Capitals and Vegas Golden Knights not favored to make it back to the Cup Final, Sidney Crosby ready to take back the trophy he has hoisted three times, Connor McDavid looking to lift the Oilers back into contention and an influx of talent in the West again threatening to make this spring another heavyweight rumble.San Jose added two-time Norris Trophy-winning defenseman Erik Karlsson, St. Louis traded for center Ryan O’Reilly and Minnesota changed general managers to take another run at an elusive title. Tampa Bay kept its deep core together, Boston is hoping for better health and Pittsburgh is loading up for another shot with Crosby eager to one-up career rival Alex Ovechkin again.“He’s very determined this year,” said Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon, who like Crosby is a native of Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia. “With the Penguins, it’s Stanley Cup or nothing for them. … They have a great team. But Sid’s their leader. Sid’s the best player in the world and he’s ready, for sure.”The Capitals’ run through the playoffs mirrored the Penguins’ three championships over the past decade in that they were built on stellar goaltending and center depth. Like Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and a host of third-line centers, Washington’s Evgeny Kuznetsov, Nicklas Backstrom and Lars Eller showed they could match up against anyone and control games at home and on the road.“They were pretty deep, obviously, in the middle — or anywhere, really,” Bruins center Patrice Bergeron said. “Obviously the center position I think is something that has a lot of impact in different ways in the game.”The Blues can now go down the middle with O’Reilly, Brayden Schenn and Tyler Bozak, and the Maple Leafs’ signing of John Tavares gives them a 1-2-3 punch of the former Islanders captain, Auston Matthews and Nazem Kadri.Matthews, Kadri and the Maple Leafs pushed Washington to six games before losing in the first round in 2017 but now have the horses to contend with anyone in the league. With Cup expectations hovering over the center of the hockey universe, the Capitals’ years of playoff roadblocks and eventually breaking through make for another important lesson for the Maple Leafs.“That’s really how hard it is,” Matthews said. “It’s not easy. It’s not just a walk in the park. Just because we added John Tavares doesn’t mean it’s going to be a walk in the park for the Toronto Maple Leafs in the playoffs. We still got to get there and no matter who you’re playing, it’s going to be a battle.”One battle the Capitals now face is trying to avoid any kind of Stanley Cup hangover, which either manifests as a slow start or a rough patch once the adrenaline wears off this fall. Jonathan Toews, who led the Blackhawks to the Cup in 2010, 2013 and 2015 said: “It’s not really my problem. That’s up to them to figure out.”Vegas goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, who went through the Capitals to help the Penguins win it all in 2009, 2016 and 2017, also isn’t in the business of giving Washington advice, but he remembers it being an uphill climb.“Every time I went to the Final, next (season) the first couple months were a little rough,” Fleury said. “It’s just trying to forget about the past as quickly as possible. … The parity’s so good around the league that the playoff race is very intense down the stretch Matt Murray Jersey , so you need those points early in the season to help you out.”Parity is reality in a league that has featured a turnover of seven of 16 playoff teams each of the past two years. Getting in really is half the battle for everyone, and especially the Capitals with the mental challenge of gearing back up after winning it all.“The guys go through such a grind to win a championship, and they know how much they’ve exerted,” said Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour, who was captain of the Hurricanes when they won the Cup in 2006 and missed the playoffs in 2007. “The physical part is not the issue. It’s mentally getting ready to battle it up again and rev it up. … If you can figure that out, then I think you have a chance to win a few Cups in a row.” RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) The Boston Bruins trailed 4-1 with 10 minutes to go and were down to four healthy defensemen. It was an adverse set of circumstances, to be sure.No matter. Spurred on by Brad Marchand’s words and David Pastrnak’s play, the Bruins pulled off a stirring comeback.Pastrnak scored three of Boston’s five goals in the final 10 minutes for his first career hat trick, and the Bruins stunned the Carolina Hurricanes by rallying for a 6-4 victory Tuesday night.”We knew we didn’t play well, close enough to our standards,” Pastrnak said. ”We don’t quit, and that showed today.”Matt Grzelcyk, Pastrnak and Danton Heinen scored in a span of 77 seconds to turn a 4-1 Bruins deficit into a 4-all tie.Grzelcyk fired home a slap shot with 9:56 remaining, Pastrnak scored on a wrister 56 seconds later and Heinen followed 21 seconds after that with the tying goal, banging home a one-timer off a 2-on-1 rush with David Krejci.Pastrnak put Boston ahead on a power-play goal with 3:30 left and finished off his hat trick with an empty-net goal with 1:34 remaining.”The whole night we kind of don’t have the legs and look kind of tired, no energy,” Pastrnak said. ”And then we get a couple goals and it seemed like all of a sudden everybody is flying and everything clicks.”Marchand had a goal and two assists for the Bruins, who snapped a three-game road losing streak. Tuukka Rask made 29 saves.Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy credited Marchand, who missed the previous game with an upper-body injury and was a game-time decision, for rallying the bench when the team trailed 4-1.”Right around Grzelcyk’s goal, Marchy said, `Listen, there’s a lot of time, we’re not out of it,”’ Cassidy said. ”We knew it was a big ask to be able to come back. There’s a lot of energy there, a lot of emotion in his game. He brings it every night.”The comeback victory did come at a cost. Bruins defensemen Zdeno Chara and Torey Krug and forward Jake DeBrusk all left the game with injuries and did not return. Cassidy did not have an update on their status.”It wasn’t easy (playing four defensemen),” Grzelcyk said, ”but it was a credit to the guys for buckling down and finding a way.”Sebastian Aho, Teuvo Teravainen and Justin Williams scored in the second period for the Hurricanes. Brock McGinn added a short-handed goal 51 seconds into the third to make it 4-1, but the Hurricanes couldn’t hold it.”I’m still kind of stunned, really,” Williams said. ”Things can go so right for 50 minutes and you can dig in and you can do all the things right. You let one goal turn into another one turn into another one. I don’t know what else to say.”Justin Faulk and Elias Lindholm each had two assists, and Cam Ward stopped 28 shots. It was a deflating loss for the Hurricanes, who missed a chance to make up ground as they chase the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. They are seven points back with 12 games remaining.”We’re in a position, trying to scratch and claw, our backs are against the wall, and we’re playing tight,” Faulk said. ”We’re not playing loose. We’re probably not playing with much confidence as a whole.”I don’t really know how to explain what just happened. It’s tough.”NOTES: Chara, Krug and DeBrusk are the latest injuries to hit the Bruins. Boston forward Patrice Bergeron (broken foot) won’t be back until next week at the earliest, Cassidy announced before the game, and defenseman Charlie McAvoy (MCL sprain) missed his fifth straight game. … Aho set a career high with his 25th goal. … Teravainen has eight goals and three assists in his last 11 games. … Bruins forward David Backes returned after serving a three-game suspension for a late hit to the head against Detroit’s Frans Nielsen last Tuesday.UP NEXTBruins: At the Florida Panthers on Thursday night.Hurricanes: Host the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday.—